Archbishop Charles Chaput said that Catholic president-elect Joe Biden should not receive Holy Communion because of his support for the “grave moral evil” of abortion.
Writing in the magazine First Things on Dec. 4, the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia warned that individual bishops who publicly announce their intention to give Biden Communion risk doing a “serious disservice” to Biden and to the rest of the American bishops….
Chaput, who retired as archbishop of Philadelphia in January 2020, noted that when he was a serving diocesan bishop, he was not always in favor of publicly denying politicians Communion over their political stances.
Chaput recalled that in 2004, John Kerry – a Catholic – was the Democratic nominee for president and took policy stances at odds with the Church’s moral teaching, a situation which resulted in “internal tensions among U.S. bishops about how to handle the matter of Holy Communion.”
“At the time, Washington’s then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, along with Pittsburgh’s Bishop Donald Wuerl [who succeeded McCarrick in Washington], had very different views from my own regarding how to proceed,” Chaput said.
“What I opposed in 2004… was any seeming indifference to the issue, any hint in a national bishops’ statement or policy that would give bishops permission to turn their heads away from the gravity of a very serious issue….”
During their Fall general assembly last month, the U.S. bishops noted that Biden’s public Catholicism and his policy platform presented a unique set of challenges for the bishops as they sought to work with the incoming administration.
The conference president, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, closed the meeting on Nov. 17 by announcing the creation of a bishops’ working group to prepare for the Biden presidency….
As the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Gregory would be Biden’s local bishop when he arrived in the White House. In his interview, the cardinal dismissed the possible “confusion” over Church teaching caused by a Catholic president promoting unrestricted access to abortion.
“It’s not a matter of confusion,” Gregory said. “On my part, it’s a matter of the responsibility that I have as the archbishop to be engaged and to be in dialogue with him, even in those areas where we obviously have some differences.”
Chaput wrote on Friday that “Those bishops who publicly indicate in advance that they will undertake their own dialogue with President-elect Joseph Biden and allow him Communion effectively undermine the work of the task force established at the November bishops’ conference meeting to deal precisely with this and related issues….”
The above comes from First Things via a Dec. 4 story on the site of the Catholic News Agency.
One person’s opinion. Not binding on anyone.
No, it’s abundantly clear to anyone who understands Catholic doctrine and Canon Law, particularly Canons 915 and 916, that “devout Catholic” Joe Biden who often quotes from the “palmist” that he’s not in full communion with the Church and shouldn’t present himself for Communion (Canon 916) until he has repented and publicly recanted his publicly expressed views and public acts in support of abortion and same-sex marriage. Until he repents and recants, bishops are well within their authority (Canon 915) to refuse him Communion; not only that, they have a mandate from Canon 916, properly interpreted, to refuse him Communion.
So Archbishop Chaput’s view is not merely “one person’s opinion.” It happens to be the correct judgment as it applies to Joe Biden. Cardinal Gregory and Bishop McElroy either don’t understand Canon Law or they refuse to apply it because they hold something other than Catholic faith in highest regard.
Nothing is binding on you leftist Catholics as you are non serviam.
Pacem, indeed, but at what price? The watering down of Church doctrine? That’s too high a price.
It’s pastoral, could save his soul. I’m thinking of the former Governor of NY Hugh Carey years ago who was denied Communion because he supported and funded abortion in NY. I believe he was excommunicated. But years later he repented and it probably saved his soul.
Thanks be to God for Archbishop Chaput’s clarity. Continue to pray for Cardinal Gregory that he will deal pastorally, clearly and publicly with Mr. Biden, for the sake of the President-elect, the unborn and their mothers, the Church and the watching world.
Amen !
Retirement courage?
Kevin, it seems you’re not familiar with the Archbishop. He was courageous and clear before he retired. See Strangers in a Strange Land or Render Unto Caesar or his other writings. His newest book, “Things Worth Dying For,” should come out in March. Most sadly, it seems it’s likely that his courage and clarity are reasons he was not made a cardinal. He did many excellent things when he was in Denver and was sent to clean up the mess in Philadelphia. May God bless him in all ways.
Good for Cdl Gregory! It’s nice to see at least one Christian in the US episcopacy!
Another leftist Catholic to whom anything goes, including giving the Blessed Sacrament to someone who supports child murder.
Jimmy Mac are you confused. I guess you’re referring to Gregory pal of homosexual serial molester and abuser McCarrick?
Look, in less than two years this won’t be an issue because Biden will have been replaced mid-term by President Harris.
Well…if everything is viewed through the temporal lens of politics and optics and you don’t count eternity, sure. But that isn’t at all what we’re talking about.
I believe Archbishop Shampoo is. It his ordinary. In fact I believe Archbishop Shampoo is no ones ordinary.
Archbishop Chaput was an excellent leader of the Philadelphia Archdiocese. We can see that his clear thinking and judgment continues in his retirement. It is sad to know that Mr. Biden does not think with the Church. President Trump is the most pro-life President ever, . we must stand up for the teachings of the Church which are the teachings of Christ. We here in Philadelphia area all salute our former Archbishop for his clear thinking and, ….his courage. God Bless Him Always!!!!
Silently give him an unconsecrated host. The scandal has already been approved. Might as well do some damage control….
Let us pray to St Michael Archangel to begin a removal procedure. He’ s been most efficient with two predecessors in this see. Never come to bat against St Michael. Game over.
Abp. Chaput should have been made a Cardinal– not Cdl.Wilton Gregory! No Church leadership and discipline, in the Vatican II era! To make matters worse– Joe Biden wants to appoint California AG Xavier Becerra as HHS Secretary! Becerra is another fake “Catholic” pro-abort! Poor David Daleiden and the Little Sisters of the Poor! Poor unborn babies, awaiting death in their mother’s wombs! The Church should mandate the same adherence to Catholic teaching, and same disciplinary procedures, for all clerics, in all cases– never “pick and choose” your own course of action! And no USCCB bishops’ committees to make “policies” on this subject– instead, do your job! Provide spiritual leadership and follow your own Canon Law! Why the useless hypocrisy all the time??
Harris & Bacerra were horrible AG’s for Calif and now they move to DC thinking the people love them. Maybe the president elect needs to learn how to properly pronounce their names. He made a mess of them both before somebody corrected him.
Maybe the newly elected head of the USCCB (who lives in LA) can learn to “DIALOG” with these two clowns before they leave Calif for good. The people of this great state don’t want ether of them back.
According to the newly appointed Cardinal of DC, DIALOG is all one needs to make everything okay and set a great example for the rest of us Catholics.
Dona nobis pacem sez:
“One person’s opinion. Not binding on anyone.”
Jesus sez:
“You deny Me before men; I’ll deny you before My Father.”
One God’s opinion. Binding on everyone.
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Xavier Becerra (three of whom are fake “Catholics,” and the fourth is virulently anti-Catholic) all spell: Death in America, to Traditional Marriage, Motherhood, unborn children, and Religious Freedom!! And what will our Pope and his clerics do about it?? Very serious political situation!
Darkness cannot overcome light.
A committee in the House of Representatives is set to meet very soon, to discuss ending of the Hyde Amendment, which forbids tax dollars to be used for abortions. Can the USCCB and any Church leaders, do anything at all, to help??
Our Bishops allow pedophiles to give and receive communion. Let’s hear them pontificate on this using Catholic doctrine. So many of our bishops are so messed up
You mean homosexual predaters which was in the majority I believe three-quarters of the abuse. Actual pedophilia accounted for less than 5 percent. But I agree the cover-up was sickening.
Anthony Mensah is the one who is messed up. Those guilty of crimes like pedophilia are not allowed to minister in the Church. You have the Dallas Charter to thank for that.
The Dallas Charter was a complete joke., considering the criminal McCarrick had large role in it…
Bohemond is wrong. The abuses which McCarrick was reported to have done occurred before the Dallas Charter. And additions to it which applies to bishops was only recently implemented; last year in fact. It is irrelevant that McCarrick had a role in its implementation, because other bishops looked into the Charter and approved it. The fact is, the Church is doing all that she can, more than any institution, to make itself safe for children, making Anthony Mensah’s comment wrong. In spite of the fact that one victim is more than enough, abuses proven to have done by Catholic priests is FAR LESS compared to those committed in other institutions/fields. For people like Anthony Mensah and bohemond to point to clergy abuse in order to discredit Catholic doctrine is totally WRONG!
“Pedophilia” was never the problem. The Dallas Charter was a joke because it tried to whitewash homosexuality among priests.
Jon stands in judgement of all, will blindly obey bad clerics and ignore their criminal actions… No, Jon, it is you who are wrong.
And just for the record: bohemond’s false accusation is just that, false. I challenge bohemond to quote exactly my words that indicate that I “will blindly obey bad clerics and ignore their criminal actions.”
Accusation is true, jon will defend any Bishop no matter what they say or do, or fail to say or do…
For the record folks, bohemond has not proven his point because he has not quoted anything. But if I may help him out here. The bishops that I have been known to criticize as a group, mind you, not any one of them in particular, would probably be the bishops of the beloved SSPX. And perhaps Vigano as well, who has absconded his duty by going into hiding. So courageous.
The mess or homosexual crisis is far from over.
Let’s put it this way: The people who want to think that this is “far from over” are those who want the feel “outraged” by any new allegations of events that may have occurred decades ago. They are just oh-so-glad to wallow yet again at every bad press and bad media coverage of the Church no matter if the case is decades old, negating whatever accomplishments the Church has gained since the Dallas Charter. Why? Various reasons: to thrash Vatican II, the Church, her bishops, her doctrines, her sacraments, Pope Francis, the Ordinary Form. Sorry to say, but their thinking about the Church is perverted, people. They will want to jump all over any mainstream anti-Catholic media “news-fest”, like the recent “MeToo Movement” Catholic-edition. They’re pathetic Catholics (if they’re Catholics at all), with no real love for the Church.
No what we are outraged self appointed Dr. of the Church. Is the corrupt hierarchy letting me like James Martin run around spreading his pro gay message, what we are outraged about is the LA REC and its heretical speakers going on without end, what we are outraged about are outraged about is how the Jesuit order has become a Fifth Column in the Church controlled by homosexuals.
Do you want a gay priest at your parish?
It’s so funny that one of the things bohemond is “outraged” about are “heretical speakers” at the LA Congress. Bohemond, when you and many of the posters here have ceased to peddle heretical viewpoints yourselves in this blog, then will I take your “outrage” more seriously.
jon, I do not preach heresy unlike those wearing collars are the LA REC. We also have a pope who sold out the Faithful Catholics in China to Communist Party, are you even willing to criticize this?
Most definitely denigrating any of the ecumenical councils of the Church, belittling any of them and their teachings is a sure indication of heresy. Moreover, preaching that there are two Churches is heretical. There is only one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And bohemond, sorry to say, but you are on record for voicing both heresies here.
As long as the civil courts are dealing with this in the extension of the statuette of limitations it is far from over; the financial and moral devastation, the exposure of the hierarchy via recorded depositions online will ensure this; respect the magisterium, respect life is not a legal defense.
Who is talking about “legal defense”? I am talking about the cynical attempt by people who call themselves Catholic of discrediting Vatican II, Pope Francis, the Ordinary Form, and the rest of the Magisterium by piggy-backing on the secular media’s efforts to spin up decades-old cases of abuse, making it seem as if half of the Catholic clergy is guilty. I am talking about the Catholic’s obligation to adhere to the Magisterium’s moral teachings, in “good times and in bad times.” Are you only going to obey the Church’s teachings and defend her when there are no lawsuits?
You ignore the McCarrick’s leadership role in this debacle , if other bishops looked into it knowing his reputation, then this reflects on their lack of discernment and understanding. That the bishops were not held to the same standards speaks to the sincerity of this. That other bishops looked into it and we still have the same scandals and worse shows how lacking they are in dealing with this and restoring trust and moral authority that they destroyed. Is this the magisterium that we are to look to and respect? Your comparison of abuse in other fields is pure equivocation.
Most of the cases that have reached litigation or have been revealed in the media occurred before the Dallas Charter. Just take the cases drummed up in the media during the “MeToo Movement (Catholic-edition) storm, starring McCarrick.” Also, Rick W. doesn’t even know to what extent McCarrick was involved in the Dallas Charter; and even if he were, so what? That’s a moot point of his. Many other bishops and lay people would have been more involved than he was, and it doesn’t negate the positive things that have happened since the Charter. The fact is, a lot of achievements were reached because of the Dallas Charter, more than in any other institution. For supposed “Catholics” to use whatever new “spin” that the media creates on “new revelations” of abuse which may be decades old, in order to discredit the Church’s moral authority, of Vatican II, or Pope Francis, is reprehensible and demonic.
To tell someone not to receive common is wrong. I respect the priest in the church but God leads us to communion, not people; we say our prayers and we take our sacraments to received the body of christ. I will pray for you…
It is a duty to tell someone that they should not receive communion if you are aware that they might not be in a state of grace. What you are really saying is that they need to stop sinning, repent and receive sacramental absolution in the sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is an act of mercy.
To receive Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is the sin of sacrilege, also a mortal sin. The Church teaches that anyone aware of having committed a serious sin, should go to Confession before receiving Communion.
Abortion is killing and killing is a mortal sin. God is not happy with us mortals. He is showing his anger.